EPF Scheme: Financial Security for Your Future
The Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF) scheme secures employees’ futures through a welfare initiative. Under this scheme, both employers and employees contribute to a Provident Fund (PF) account. Employees can access their accumulated funds when they retire or leave their job. Additionally, employees can make advance withdrawals from their PF account for conditions such as illness, housing, education, or marriage.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) faced a surge in advance withdrawal requests and managed thousands of claims each week. To address this issue, the EPFO introduced its first fully automated claim settlement system, which processes claims without human intervention. This automation greatly relieved fund members by settling around 54 percent of COVID-19-related claims through the auto mode and cutting the settlement time from 10 days to just 3 days. The EPFO initially introduced this automated system specifically for illness-related advance withdrawals under para 68J of the scheme. Para 68J of the Employees’ Provident Fund Scheme, 1952, lets members and their family members advance withdraw Provident Fund for illness-related reasons.
To keep its members informed and up-to-date, the EPFO expanded the auto claim settlement system to cover education and marriage under Rule 68K, and housing under Rule 68B. The EPFO announced this expansion in a press release on May 13, 2024. This update allows members to make advance withdrawals for marriage or education for themselves and their children. Rule 68B permits advance withdrawals from the PF account to buy or construct a house. Additionally, the EPFO increased the maximum amount for auto claim settlements from ₹50,000 to ₹1,00,000 to enhance the quality of life for millions of fund members nationwide.
In the financial year 2023-24, the EPFO settled approximately 4.45 crore claims, with over 60% (2.84 crore) being advance claims. Out of these advance claims, around 89.52 lakh were processed using the auto mode.
Without the auto claim settlement system, members usually waited 10-20 days for the withdrawal amount to reach their bank accounts. The auto mode significantly speeds up this process. To use the system, members must have a Universal Account Number (UAN), an Aadhar card, a PAN card, and a bank account linked to their UAN. Members then access the EPFO online portal, complete claim form 31C, and specify the reason for the advance withdrawal.
Advance claims are settled within 3 days of receipt by the EPFO. This method is much faster than the traditional process, which involves verifying the EPF member’s eligibility, reviewing submitted documents, checking KYC status, and confirming bank account details. The auto mode, which operates without human intervention, automatically processes claims that meet KYC, eligibility, and bank validation criteria using IT tools. If a claim isn’t validated and isn’t returned or rejected, it indicates that it has been sent for a second level of scrutiny and approval.